Two persons have died as the flood-like situation in several districts in the southern part of West Bengal remained grim on Tuesday following heavy rain and consequent rise in water discharge from barrages within a short span of time, a senior state official said.
Parts of Birbhum, Bankura, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Paschim Bardhaman districts are inundated, the CM’s Chief Advisor, Alapan Bandyopadhyay, said.
While one person died due to wall collapse following rain in Purba Bardhaman district, another died of electrocution in Hooghly district since Monday.
Due to heavy rainfall, 1,33,750 Cusec of water was released from Durgapur Barrage, 40,000 cusec from Kangsabati dam, 2,00,000 cusec from Maithon dam and 50,000 cusec from the Panchet Dam in the last 24 hours.
Bandyopadhyay said very heavy rainfall was reported at Baghmundi (134.20 mm) in Purulia district, while heavy rainfall was recorded at Bhairabbanki (90.4 mm) and Mukutmanipur (90.6 mm) in Bankura, Kharidwar (106.4 mm) in Purulia, Gopiballavpur (90 mm) of Jhargram districts since Monday.
The Rupnarayan, Dwarakeswar, Shilabati , Kaliaghai, Kalapaleswari rivers are flowing above the extreme danger level, he said.
Disaster Relief Teams from the Centre and the state are working at Hooghly, Paschim Medinipur, South 24 Parganas, Howrah and some other places.
Bandyopadhyay said 17 state disaster relief teams are currently working in parts of Hooghly, Bankura, Paschim Medinipur, North 24 Parganas, Howrah and Purba and Purba Medinipur districts.
Eight NDRF teams are at work in some other parts of Hooghly, Howrah, Paschim and Purba Medinipur and South 24 Parganas districts.
The Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) said it released 90,000 Cusec of water from Panchet and Maithon dams at 11.30 pm on Monday.
The release of water increased to 2.1 lakh Cusec by 6.54 am on Tuesday, marking a significant increase in just seven hours. The discharge further escalated to 2.5 lakh Cusec by 8.31 am, with a rise of 40,000 cusecs in only one-and-a-half hours, DVC officials said.
DVC issued a 'red alert' following the release of water.
The discharge was increased due to high upstream water flow, they said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Monday night expressed concerns over the situation, warning of a potential flood-like situation in at least seven districts downstream due to release of water from dams in neighbouring Jharkhand.
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